


The New Guy

by thalia_cinder_03



Series: This Stucky Universe [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Big Brother Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Fluff, Gay Bucky Barnes, Gay Steve Rogers, Gyms, M/M, Mutual Pining, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, POV Alternating, POV Bucky Barnes, POV Steve Rogers, Pining, SHIELD, SHIELD Agent Bucky Barnes, SHIELD Family, Slow Burn, Stucky - Freeform, Sweet Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:48:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27237559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalia_cinder_03/pseuds/thalia_cinder_03
Summary: Steve had to choose a new SHIELD agent for his team after one of his guys retiredHe just didn't think he'd be this hot
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: This Stucky Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988707
Comments: 22
Kudos: 62





	1. Aw fuck...

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So if you're not here from the update I posted on "Welcome, Agent Barnes", don't worry, you can still read this, but let me catch you up!
> 
> I wrote a different five chapter story called Welcome, Agent Barnes. Then I left hints throughout the story that there was another story behind that story, that the other characters were doing things when the POV switched. This is basically, what I've been calling, the story remix.
> 
> For example, Bucky narrated his version of chapter 1 in that one, this is Steve's version
> 
> It wont matter which one you read first, but the other one is already complete (unless you're reading this after I've finished, in which case ignore that part), but read both to get the full story :)
> 
> And if you're not new here, sorry this took so long I fully meant to upload this three days ago and I forgot.

_ (Takes place during Chapter 1 of Welcome, Agent Barnes) _

Steve sighed and rolled out of his bed. There wasn’t a ton of natural light in his apartment, since it was basically hidden from the outside world, so all his artificial light hit the bright white walls. He knew the apartment had to be hidden for safety reasons, but he was definitely gonna have to do something about the light. Maybe he should paint the walls a different colour. 

He yawned as he stretched his arms above his head and made for the shower. It was almost pointless to shower now, he was going to be training all day so he would probably be covered in sweat an hour in anyway. He turned on the cold water, hoping it would wake him up more. Super soldier or not, he was still never going to be a morning person. After scrubbing at his body and hair with whatever shampoo and soap that was there, he turned off the shower and dried off with a white towel. He needed some colour in here. 

He didn’t bother getting dressed, settling for wrapping the towel around his waist. He would have to put on the suit for training pretty soon anyway, what was the point in wasting perfectly good clothes before then? He made his way to his kitchen and grabbed a pre-made protein shake from the fridge. He dropped two pieces of toast in his toaster and pulled the butter out of the fridge so it could soften first. 

Today was going to be an interesting day of sorts. One of their team members had had their first kid two weeks ago, and had since decided that they were no longer going to be part of a strike team. There was too much to lose now, if something went wrong. It was probably a good call, you never knew what was going to happen if you were part of a strike team, especially Captain America’s team. His teammates never knew how long they were going to disappear for, or who was currently out to get them. Steve estimated that there were probably about six different groups planning his demise this very second, at least. He was being generous, there were probably more. 

Fury had given him the job last weekend at finding his new replacement. It had to be someone with a good amount of experience, someone who was good with tactical weapons and bombs, as well as being someone who could hold their own in combat. Steve of course implied his bias when he began searching the system, searching for military veterans. He didn’t care if it wasn’t technically ethical to choose his team that way, it was his team. Fury said he got to choose who he wanted. 

That was how he found the profile of one Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, apparently nicknamed Bucky. He was relatively young and fit, good experience with tactical weapons and bombs, and from his academy reports, he could  _ definitely _ hold his own, no matter the situation. He had been honourably discharged a while ago after an accident in the field that left him without his arm. SHIELD had offered to replace it for him with one even stronger than his original one, not just some flimsy prosthetic for show. He had since trained in the academy. He was supposed to start three days from them. 

“Didn’t I tell you to pick someone with field experience, Rogers?” Fury asked him when he sent over his choice. “This guy’s good, but the man’s never been out in the field. Hasn’t even worked a security job.”

“He does have experience,” Steve argued back, leaning forward onto Fury’s desk. “How do you think he lost the arm?”

“I meant SHIELD experience,” Fury dropped some of the papers he was holding onto the desk.

After about a minute of a staring contest that Steve wasn’t sure he was winning, he leaned back. “Put him on my team. I want him.” 

Fury hadn’t responded, but the Sergeant’s name had appeared on one of his files the next day. 

There was a knock at his door. “Come in!” he called. It was only either Sam or Natasha, so he didn’t bother checking. 

The door swung open and Natasha barged into his apartment, already dressed for the day, red hair slightly damp. “You’re late,” she said, bluntly. 

“It’s too early, Nat,” he complained, and downed most of his protein shake in one gulp. “Plus, no one’s gonna notice if we start a half hour late. We get there before everyone else anyway.”

“Yeah, but I’m awake and ready, so you need to be too,” she reasoned. “This is how partnership works.”

“Whatever,” he said, right before his toast popped up. “I’m eating now, we can go down in a minute.”

“Fine,” she sighed, heading towards his fridge, definitely planning to steal his food. “Y’know, I thought there might be a more fun explanation as to why you’re late.” She grabbed a handful of his strawberries. 

Steve raised an eyebrow as he buttered his toast. “And what would that be?”

“Thought you might’ve gotten laid,” she said casually. 

“Natasha,” he groaned, holding the last ‘A’ for a record amount of time. “Stop.”

“I’m just saying, it’s been a while.”

“How would you know that?” He ripped off part of the first piece and shoved it in his mouth. 

“Well has it?” 

He declined to answer, which didn’t help his case too much. 

“See?” she asked. “I’m pretty sure there are so many guys that would be into you if you just put yourself out there. I mean, we’ve discussed that gay Captain America might cause an all out civil war, but we can worry about that later.”

He gave her his death stare. 

“You look like an angry puppy, Rogers. I could just swaddle you in a blanket.”

“Shut it, Romanoff,” he tried to threaten, but he was already laughing at the image. 

After he finished eating and got dressed for the day, they took the elevator down to their training floor, floor T7. As he had suspected, there was no one there yet. 

“I’m grabbing some gloves,” Natasha said, making her way to one of the racks. “You’re sparring with me.”

“Ugh,” he groaned, but he also grabbed his equipment. 

“You know,” she pondered, “for the amount of times I have to actually force you to do your job, I think I should be promoted to leader of this team.”

“Hah Hah,” Steve said, wrapping his hand before shoving it in his glove. “Very funny.”

She met him in the centre of the mat. “I’m serious. I think I should challenge you for it.”

“Oh yeah? What happened to the ‘I work alone’ shtick?” he mocked. “Now you wanna lead the team? God, I should tell Hill. Or Barton. They’d die to hear this.”

“Shut it, Rogers,” she said, taking her first swing, missing the side of his head when he ducked just in time, rattling him just a bit. 

“Damn, Romanoff!” He shook himself off and swung, missing her side. “I didn’t know we were starting.”

“Rule number 1, never take your eye off your opponent,” she smirked, arms up as she dodged. 

“Oh, that’s how we’re doing this?” he asked, arching his brow at her. 

“Mhmm.”

“Okay then.” He went in hard, getting the first hit on her side. 

“Ahh!” she yelped, rolling to the ground, and getting up with a signature kip up. 

They moved back and forth, following their very non-regulation form of boxing. Steve made another blow to Natasha’s side, she managed to land two to the side of his head. They were both panting and sweaty already, and Steve was just thinking about calling for a break (or a forfeit if Natasha wasn’t tired), when the elevator door opened. 

“The fuck…” Steve heard faintly from the door. Natasha clearly heard as well and the two stopped fighting, to look at the people who had entered. Sam was here, earlier than their other guys as usual, and the other guy must’ve been the new guy, Bucky. His hair was long, brushing the tops of his shoulders. His metal arm glistened in the artificial light, and his face showed he was clearly in shock. Steve began to make his way to the benches so he could really see him.

“So no one thought to tell me we were getting a new guy?” Sam asked, walking towards the benches, Bucky following in tow. 

“Sorry,” Steve said, grabbing his water bottle off the bench, wiping some sweat off his forehead so he wouldn’t look disgusting. “Fury didn’t even tell me until this morning.” It was a lie. Natasha probably knew it. Sam might. He didn’t think it would be great to bombard the new guy with all the information he knew about him. He turned towards the guy. “Sergeant Barnes, right?”

“Umm,” he said, looking like a deer in headlights. It was sort of adorable. “Yeah.”

“Hey there,” Steve said, smiling, trying to come across as calmly as possible when someone had just seen you intensely sparring. “I’m Steve.” As he was smiling, he got a good look at the guy. He was built like a god, and he had met a few, so he had a pretty good reference. Oh god, this was gonna be an issue. He couldn’t just lust after his newest team member. He could not. Nope. Nope.

“Am I on some SHIELD prank show?” Bucky asked, the whole deer in headlights look gone. 

Steve tried his best not to burst out laughing, just settling for a light chuckle, and squirting some water into his mouth. The new guy was pretty hilarious. “‘Fraid not.”

“Shouldn’t people on  _ your  _ team have, I don’t know, actual experience?” he asked. “Not be green?” He looked at Natasha hesitantly, and Steve laughed again on the inside. He felt a bit bad, but she did tend to have that effect on people. 

However, he wasn't gonna lower the confidence of his team members, that was for sure. “You do have experience. You're a sergeant for god’s sake.” His eyes lingered on Bucky for a second, just looking for their own sake now.  _ Stop _ , he told himself.

“I mean like…” he stopped. “You know what I mean.”

“Did you wanna get stuck on a security team for the first year or so?” Natasha piped in. Steve looked at her, and she had finally let up, giving Bucky a  _ seriously? _ look. “Come on. You know your talent would’ve been wasted in a job like that. I’ve read your file. You’re kind of a legend for having served only four years. Did a lot.”

Steve watched as he shifted uncomfortably. He brushed his metal fingers back and forth. 

Then Sam slapped him on the back. It was probably better than Steve reassuring him. He’d been told before that Sam was more normal than he was, whatever that was supposed to mean. He would never understand what Tony meant. “You’re a weapons guy, right?”

He nodded. 

“Go check ‘em out,” Sam said and nodded towards the artillery racks. “Find one you like.”

He nodded again and left the area, very clearly confused. Steve watched as Bucky hurriedly made his way to the artillery racks. He noticed the way his metal arm twitched around nervously against his side, and came to the conclusion that he probably didn’t have as much control over that on the artificial limb. His hair flowed down beautifully, and he was what Steve would call, extremely fucking attractive…

_aw fuck._


	2. Talks Over Guns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's nervous, but luckily (or maybe not so luckily) Natasha's there.
> 
> \-------
> 
> Aligns with chapter 2 of Welcome, Agent Barnes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So it's technically Halloween already for me, even though it's also just passed midnight, and we can't really have parties where I am anyway, since there's a max ten person gathering limit. But I carved a pumpkin of Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas and I'm obsessed with it. Last year I did all Avengers themes ones, so I didn't do any of those this year, since my theme was Disney, but now I have pumpkin seeds!
> 
> Also I definitely wrote this instead of studying for all the tests I have coming up but whatever
> 
> Now that you have all that useless information about my life, enjoy! <3

_ (Takes place during chapter 2 of Welcome, Agent Barnes) _

Bucky ran his finger over the top of a massive artillery weapon, which was in perfect condition. It was surprisingly calming his nerves, since it was familiar. In fact, there was a lot that was very familiar to him in this room. It looked a lot like the rooms he had trained in at the academy, and the weapons were of, if not better than, military grade, which of course he knew all about. The only thing throwing him off his game was the people. The fucking people. 

He moved his hand over a small grenade, which he figured to be a fake based on its weight, and looked up to analyze the three people once again. Analyzing people, figuring them out, always calmed him down. Sam was standing with his feet wide and stance heavy, head thrown back in laughter. Based on Steve’s scowl and Natasha’s smirk, Bucky assumed he was laughing at Steve’s expense. Sam seemed like a nice guy. His body language was friendly and he hadn’t tried to be intimidating either. 

Next he looked at Natasha. She was smirking at Steve, hair only slightly askew, despite her intense boxing, or whatever they had been doing, match just a few minutes prior. She was confident, which was probably pretty important in her line of work, and she meant what she said. He had only spoken with her for a moment, but she didn’t hold back and worry about his shock, unlike Sam and Steve. 

Steve. Steve was something. He was built like a tree, which might not seem like a compliment but in Bucky’s eyes it was. His muscles were giant, and when he had been fighting, he looked so strong, so tough. His fighting was almost methodical, and so confident that he looked graceful. Right now, he had his head thrown back in some amount of frustration, though Bucky hadn’t known him long enough to know if that was mock or real frustration. Steve began to turn in his direction, so he whipped his head back down towards the weapons. He picked up the grenade and checked the type of pin that it used, though he had checked just a minute ago. He felt Steve’s eyes narrow on him, looking at him through the side of his eyes. 

He looked away and Bucky let his posture go, breathing out. He moved his hand to another weapon and calmed down, until he heard the light steps that could only belong to Natasha coming his way. He meant to look at her, but just looked over her head at Steve, who was back to talking with Sam. Once he was actually looking at her, she gave him a welcoming smile. At least he thought it was welcoming. He couldn’t read her yet. He thought he might never be able to.

“Hi,” she said, leaning against the pole of the rack. It didn’t move at all, so she must have been either extremely light, or the pillar was bolted into the floor. “Find anything you like?”

He gave her a small smile in return. “Umm, yeah. They’re all cool.”

“Well, you can have whatever you want,” she replied. “And we have multiples of everything so don’t worry about breaking them.”

He nodded, and looked back towards the rack, hoping she might just walk away. She was making him nervous. When she didn’t, he looked back up at her. “I’m not a talker.”

“Yes you are,” she said, as if she had known him forever. “You talked to Sam in the elevator when you hadn’t realized he was the Falcon. Elevator small talk is only something talkers do.”

He couldn’t argue with that. She was good. That was probably the least impressive of her many talents but it had caught him off guard. “Okay. Yeah I am. But…”  _ not with you _ , almost slipped out of his mouth. 

“You’re nervous because of Captain muscles over there aren’t you?” she asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow. 

He felt all of his skin from his face to his feet burn up in flames. He pressed his lips together and tried so hard not to, but ended up giving in and shifting his eyes to Steve for just a second. He was rewrapping his hands, probably getting ready to go a round with Sam. His hair was hanging over his eye just a bit. He was all hot and sweaty but it was all the more attractive to Bucky. He quickly whipped his eyes back to Natasha, who was shaking her head, but smiling. “That was blunt.” It was the only sentence his brain could form right now, but it probably wouldn’t have done him any good to lie to her. She could see right through him like a pane of glass. 

“It was, but I’m a blunt person,” she shrugged. 

“That’s fair,” he reasoned. 

“See,” she said, lightly punching, actually more like tapping him on the arm. “You’re such a talker. And stop being so nervous. Your fellow normal guys,” she stopped to put air quotes around the last two words, “will be here soon. Though I’d say Sam and Steve are a lot more fun to hang out with than they are.”

Over her shoulder, Bucky watched as Steve and Sam began to get into position. 

“Come on,” she said, gesturing towards the open mat. “Let’s watch bird costume and star spangled man try to crush each other.”

He almost fell over laughing at that one. Natasha really wasn’t so bad. “Bird costume?”

“Oh yeah. He hates it, but it’s never going away.”

They made their way towards the mat, and watched as Steve took a swing, missing Sam’s ribs just slightly. They were tough. He really hoped they wouldn’t ask him to join at any point this week. He was  _ definitely _ not fit enough for this. “They’re good,” he mumbled. 

“They’re alright,” she remarked, just before Steve hit the side of Sam’s helmet, knocking him down hard. Bucky almost jumped back in fright. Steve was _ strong.  _

“You good, bird costume?” Steve asked, leaning over Sam slightly. ‘Bird costume’ must’ve been a thing around here.

“Yep,” Sam groaned, rolling over onto his back. “I’m taking Natasha next time.”

“What makes you so sure that’ll be any easier?” Natasha interrupted from just in front of him.

He smirked. She was starting to grow on him, maybe she was his favourite so far. 

Steve turned around and met his eyes, smiling a bit before squinting down at Natasha, who had her arms folded across her chest, and head cocked to the side. 

“I don’t,” Sam defended quickly, sitting up quickly. His shoulders were pushed forward, which was a common stance of fear. “I definitely don’t.”

“Up, birdman,” she said, making her way to the equipment rack. “Let’s go.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sam groaned loudly. “I just got punched in the face! And stop calling me birdman.” Yep. It was definitely a thing. 

“Don’t care!” she called back, pulling a helmet on.

Sam looked back towards Steve, but he just shrugged and walked off the mat to join Bucky, who was still standing on the edge of the mat. “Hey,” he said, leaning against the rack. He looked so casual down here, as if they were just hanging out in his apartment or something. It was hot, just like everything else this man did.

“Hi,” Bucky replied, watching Sam and Natasha get into position so that he didn’t have to meet Steve’s eyes. He was still burning a little from when Natasha had called him out, and even if Steve hadn’t heard, he didn’t think he could look at him right now without flushing red. 

“You check out the artillery?” he asked, as Natasha dodged a punch.

“Yeah,” Bucky responded, looking down at his feet.  _ Get yourself together _ , he told himself, mentally slapping himself. What was he even doing. He had to look this man in the face, of course he did. Steve was his CO. It didn’t matter if he was hot or whatever, he had to deal with it. “You guys have some nice stuff. Didn’t see stuff like that in the academy.”

“Nah, you wouldn't. It’s some pretty advanced stuff. Just the top strike teams get it.”

Bucky had a thought and tried to shake it, but it came back to him, so he figured he might as well ask. “I still don’t get it. My first day and I’m on your team. Who was the idiot in charge of placements?”

“Actually,” he chuckled. “That would be me.”

“What?” Bucky asked, eyebrows knitting together on his forehead in confusion. Steve picked him? What had that decision been based off of? Had Steve just looked at his records from the academy and decided,  _ Yes! That’s the random new guy I want! _ ? Had he looked at his army records? Did SHIELD even have access to those records? Actually, on second thought, that was a stupid question. Of course they did, they were SHIELD. “Why’d you…” he trailed off.

“Well,” he started, pondering for a second. “First of all, I have a soft spot for vets, obviously, with me being me. Second, your academy scores are record breaking. And third, I don’t know. You seemed like the right kind of guy. You know your weapons, you have field experience no matter what you might say, it just works.”

Bucky opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he felt a blush rising to the top of his cheeks. _ You seemed like the right kind of guy _ echoed in his head, and it was hard for his mushy brain not to read into it.  _ Shut up _ , he told his brain. This guy probably, no definitely, wasn’t even gay. “Oh,” he finally said. 

There was a loud groan of pain that interrupted their conversation and the two turned to see Natasha standing over Sam who had just been socked in the ribs. “I hate you guys,” Sam groaned, as she helped pull him up. 

The elevator dinged after that and a few guys made their way into the training room. They must’ve been the normal guys that Natasha had mentioned, the ones that apparently weren’t so great. “‘Bout damn time!” Natasha called over to them. “You guys get your beauty sleep? Even the new guy is here before you!”

One of the guys scowled, while the other two laughed. “Not everyone wakes up at 5AM, Romanoff!” one of the laughing guys called back, dropping a bag by the bench. 

“Tsk, tsk,” she muttered. “Lazy, lazy.

Bucky’s nervousness began to set in at the increase of new people in the room. He tried his best to keep himself from showing it though. 

“Alright!” Steve called out, clapping his hands together and starting towards the group near the bench, successfully grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. “We have a new team member,” he nodded towards Bucky, “so we need to go over plans. Make sure everyone’s on the same page. Okay?”

“Yes Captain!” Sam mocked, hand coming to a stiff salute. 

“You know what, Wilson?” Steve asked, obviously trying not to laugh.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that for some reason, Natasha is gonna be in like all of these. Oops. That's my black widow obsession coming through.


	3. The Phone Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve's side of that interesting phone call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I have so much math homework to do for my tutor, which sucks, and I reverse procrastinated today and finished an entire American history project and studied for my psych test and wrote this chapter so I could excuse myself from doing it, so that was fun. 
> 
> Also it snowed for the first time today, first day of November. I think we got like a few inches, and I'm gonna have to walk to school in it tomorrow. I love life.
> 
> On the bright side, the squirrels didn't eat my pumpkin so it was a good Halloween overall. 
> 
> The chapter's kinda short but I didn't want to add useless boring filler to it so... oh well.
> 
> Hope you enjoy those useless updates on my life, and the chapter!

_ “Hey guys, I added Bucky? _ ” Natasha called out loudly, swinging open the door to his apartment. She basically had no concept of boundaries when it came to him and his apartment, though he didn’t really mind. It was nice to know that company would always be dropping by. As per her question though, she was referencing his text from earlier that day. He had been talking with Bucky after training (Bucky had mentioned he was gay during this conversation, he had jumped at that), and he had added Bucky to the team groupchat so that he could get his number. “Really?”

“What was wrong with that?” Steve called back, his food muffling his voice. It was close to ten o’clock at night but he had a pretty high metabolism, so by ten he had to eat again. He always doubled whatever he got for dinner for his second one, so now he was shoving pizza in his face for the second time tonight. 

“Why won’t you just ask him out?” she asked, sitting down across from him at his dining room table, and pulling the last piece of pizza out of his box and taking a bite. “You know you want to.”

“Weren’t you the one against this?” he groaned, sure he had already asked that this morning. “Something about work ethics.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re clearly gonna die if you don’t ask him out.”

“What? Why would you think that?” he denied, but he turned away and pretended to look at a clock because Natasha could read him like a book. 

“Because you were oozing sexual tension down there,” she said casually. 

“Was not!” Steve defended, but his voice went all high pitched. “Was not,” he tried again, forcing himself down a few octaves. 

Natasha just raised an eyebrow. “Whatever, man. Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure,” he replied, glad to be off the subject. He flipped the pizza box closed and threw it back towards the counter. He was pretty good at throwing flat objects accurately since, you know, he had a lot of practice. “Which one?”

“Where did we leave off on Star Wars?” she asked as she got up from the table, still eating the piece she had taken. 

“We’ve done the first six,” he said, after a second of contemplating. “Should we start the seventh?”

“Sounds good,” she said, turning on the TV. “The sequel trilogy isn’t that great but you still need to watch it. Plus the seven is better than eight and nine.”

“Okay. Popcorn?”

“Definitely,” she answered. “Did you buy the extra butter kind?”

“Do you know me at all Tasha? Of course I did.”

\---------------

Two hours and two bowls of popcorn later, the movie was over. Natasha was lying down across the couch, resting her head on one of his couch pillows and her feet on his right leg. The movie had been okay, probably worse than the original ones but better than the prequels, but to be honest, he hadn’t been paying much attention. He didn’t have the heart to tell Natasha, since she was such a nerd for all this star wars stuff, but he really didn’t care about all these lightsabers and droids and shit.

All he was thinking about was Bucky. Maybe he wasn’t a text and group chat sort of guy, he had said that they better not spam him when Steve added him to the chat, but he thought he might respond to Steve’s lonely text. Maybe then Steve could read it in his voice. He had a really nice voice. But of all the messages he got during the movie, from the million times he checked his phone, none of them were from Bucky. He flipped it up again to check his lockscreen. 

“What’re you doing?” Natasha asked as the final logo of the credits played. 

“Oh, umm…” Steve said, looking up. “Nothing.”

“Are you seriously waiting for a text?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not waiting for a text from Bucky, Tasha.”

“I never said from Bucky,” she smirked. 

He stuttered for a second, before scowling, grabbing a pillow off the ground and throwing it at her. “Shut up. I got his number to add him to the chat, not to flirt with him. 

“So you’re gonna tell me you weren’t fishing for his sexuality earlier?”

“I wasn’t,” he said before shoving the last of the popcorn in his mouth. 

“And that you didn’t squeal when he told you he was gay?”

“I don’t squeal!” This was an ongoing joke at his expense. He had shrieked  _ once _ on a mission and now it was a thing that got brought up at least on the daily.

“Then you’d be fine to call him right now?” she asked, smirking.

“I would, but it’s late,” he excused. “I’m not gonna bother him for literally nothing.”

“It’s like,” Natasha checked her watch, “9:30. He’s not an old man like you, he’s obviously not getting ready to sleep at 9:30.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Call him.”

“And say what?”

“Invite him to a team meeting tomorrow.” 

“You wanna invite him to the team meeting?” Team meeting was the fake name that they had come up with for the little parties they had sometimes. Usually only a few members of his team were invited. Obviously Sam and Natasha always were, and Phillips, the team member who had quit and made way for Bucky was usually there. Maria Hill came sometimes. Collins and Andersen had come once or twice. He had never invited Rumlow. “You’ve known him like, a day.”

“He’s cool,” she shrugged. “I talked to him a few times. Invite him.”

“You realize if I invite him, I probably have to invite Rumlow, right?”

“Oh well. I’ll ignore him. Call Bucky.” She nudged him hard with her foot. 

“Ow!” he yelled. She always underestimated her strength.

“Call. Him,” she practically growled.

He raised an eyebrow at her aggressiveness but gave up and pressed the call button on Bucky’s contact screen, turning up the volume since he knew Natasha was about to ask him to anyway. The phone rang a few times before it was picked up. 

“Hello?” Bucky asked. His voice sounded a little higher than normal, but he knew that phones sort of altered people’s voices so he assumed it was just that.

“Oh, umm…” Despite him being the one who initiated the call, he was still caught off guard. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Bucky said, a hint of question in his voice, as if to ask what was going on.

Natasha kicked him. “Team meeting,” she whispered, reminding him of why he called. She smirked a bit, clearly knowing he had forgotten what he had called about.

“Oh right,” he said, nodding at Natasha. “So we were gonna have a team meeting tomorrow night.” Steve paused for a second. Meeting was probably the wrong way to describe this to him. “Like a party. But not really, cause there’s seven of us, but sort of a party.”

“Okay…” Bucky answered.

“Are you gonna come?”

“Well, I’m on the team right?” 

Natasha opened her eyes wide.  _ Snarky _ , she mouthed, grinning.

“Yeah, yeah. Definitely,” Steve assured.

“Then I’ll be there,” he answered.

“Great,” Steve said, and Natasha gave him a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes at her and looked away. 

“Why didn’t you just text that chat you added me to?” Bucky asked

Steve whipped his head around to Natasha. She snorted with laughter. Of course she would laugh at him. And of course he wouldn’t think of texting Bucky instead.

“Oh,” Steve said after getting himself composed and giving Natasha the stink eye. “Right. I forgot I added you to that. My bad.”

“Oh, well okay,” Bucky said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Steve replied. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too,” Bucky said, before hanging up. 

Steve dropped the phone on Natasha’s foot. 

“Ow!” she yelled, pulling both her feet back towards her stomach. “What the fuck!?”

“I could have texted him!” He buried his face in his hands. 

“But now Bucky is coming over,” she said, getting up from the couch, taking both popcorn bowls with her. “You’re Welcome!”

“I didn’t say thank you!” he called back to her. He looked up from his hands and sighed, looking around his apartment. He was gonna have to clean. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I write too much in the notes. Love y'all <3


	4. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky tells his sister he's going to Steve's party. She goes sort of insane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii, sorry it took me so long to update, I've been busy. A short story of mine is being published in a magazine in a few weeks and I had to write a speech for the publishing ceremony thing, and then my friend is making me sign up for another short story contest so I had to spend a lot of my usual writing time working on that. Also homework, and the fact that I'm spending way too much of my free time obsessing over corpse husband. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)

“You’re going to Captain America’s apartment?!” Becca practically screamed through the phone. Bucky’s little sister was known for her large scale reactions, but Bucky still hadn’t prepared for her scream. He yanked the phone away from his ear, and almost stumbled over. 

He turned down the volume on his phone. “Calm down, Becks. It’s literally in the same building as the SHIELD facilities. I’ve basically been there already.”

“No, no no,” she rushed, and Bucky thought he heard things being knocked over in the background. “It is not the same thing. You are going to be in the god of hotness’ apartment. His living quarters. Where he sleeps and where he has-”

“Rebecca!” Bucky screamed, cutting her off. “I really don’t want to hear the end of that sentence from my baby sister.”

“Fine. Can I drive you there?”

“No.”

“Whyyyy,” she whined, and Bucky thought he heard the slam of a door.

“You know you’re not allowed at SHIELD, right? You’re not even supposed to know I work there.”

“Oh, they seriously think I wouldn’t have noticed a fucking metal arm?” He could picture her raised eyebrow through the phone.

“Whatever. It’s still my workplace, so you can’t come.”

“But you’re not going for work!” She was breathing heavy on the other end for some reason. He wasn’t going to question it.

“It’s a work party, Becks.”

“What if I wait outside?” she asked.

“No.” he answered, firmly.

“What if I wait a block away?”

“No.”

“Two blocks?’

“No.”

“Three blocks?”

“At that point, you might as well stay home.”

“Wait, so it’s only three blocks away from your place?” she asked, and Bucky could tell she was using her scheming voice. Becca had had a Nancy Drew phase when Bucky was in middle school, so he was no stranger to the scheming voice. 

“That’s not what I said,” he reasoned. “And it’s also not true.”

“Fine. Can I style you?” she negotiated.

“It’s a work party,” he said, rolling his eyes and grabbing a granola bar from his cupboard. He had just gotten home from work when Becca called, and lately he was training so much that he was hungry and exhausted all the time. “I don’t need a stylist for a work party.”

“Too late,” she said casually, as if the matter was already decided.

“What do you mean ‘too late’?” he asked. 

There was a loud bang on his door. “Becca, you better not have-” he started, stopping when he swung open the door to reveal his sister, who looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. He sighed and shook his head, though he was also mystified. Becca lived three and half blocks away from him, she had definitely been in her apartment when she called him, and he didn’t hear her start her car. “How on earth did you get here so fast?”

“They say dire situations require mysterious solutions,” she panted, putting her phone in her jacket pocket and shoving past him, into his apartment. 

“Nobody says that…” he trailed off, still staring out the door with confusion.  _ How did that girl get here so fast? _

“Do you still have that brown leather jacket that Dad got you?” she asked, already digging through his closet. 

“Umm, yeah,” Bucky said, shaking his head and shutting the door. “It’s on the back of the door.”

Becca plucked it off the door and tossed it at him, though it missed his hands and hit him in the face, metal zipper barely missing his eye. “Ow!”

“What about those black jeans I got you?” she asked, ignoring his cry of pain.

He groaned, pronouncing his pain even more, trying to get her to notice, He may have been fighting for a living for many years but he wasn’t above being a petty older brother.

“Bucky!” she snapped. “Black jeans! Where are they?”

“Middle drawer on the left,” he gave up. 

“Thank you,” she said politely, as if she hadn’t just yelled at him, and pulled the jeans out nicely. 

Five minutes later, he was dressed in the black jeans, a blue shirt and the brown leather jacket. His hair was down, since he had just washed it when he showered, and it was sitting atop his shoulders. “Can you leave now?” he asked.

“Wait,” she said, straightening him in front of her, frowning at him in analysis. “Hair.”

“My hair is fine,” he grumbled. “I just washed it.”

“Do the half-up half-down thing. You look better with it up.”

“Wow, thanks,” he mumbled, but he pulled a hair tie off the table and did as she said. “Alright, can you go now? I’m supposed to leave in-” he checked his watch, “oh shit! I’m gonna be late!”

“Oh no!” Becca cried in mock concern. “You’re gonna be late for your super secret party with Captain America!”

“Shut up,” he groaned, shoving her shoulder. “Get out Becks, I gotta go.”

“Fine,” she said, before widening her eyes. It looked like a lightbulb had gone off in her head. She began to run out before yelling, “text me the address, I’m picking you up!”

“Becca!” he yelled back, but she was already gone. Bucky looked skyward.  _ How did he end up with such a difficult sister? _

He quickly got his things together and made his way to the subway. He was pretty sure he’d be drinking, and he didn’t know any of his teammates well enough yet to let them drive him home. Plus, SHIELD’s offices were just off one of the stops at the end of the line. 

After around twenty minutes, which Bucky realized had taken a shorter amount of time than when he drove, Bucky arrived at his stop. He quickly made his way off the train, checking his watch frequently as he raced against the clock. He didn’t think Steve would mind if he was late, and it seemed like half their team showed up late all the time anyway, but he didn’t want to be rude.  _ Or you just want him to like you _ , said a voice in his head that sounded like a mix between his sister and Natasha.  _ Shut up _ , he retorted to it as he walked up to the SHIELD building. 

He made his way to the sixth basement floor, fiddling with nothing in his metal hand out of anxiousness. He was seven minutes late, and when he got out of the elevator and walked to the door, he could hear people inside. He wrapped on the door with his real hand. He never used his metal hand, because he couldn’t always measure the amount of power he used with it and he didn’t feel like breaking Steve’s door today. 

After a moment, Steve opened the door. His hair was washed, and he looked rested, which was somehow even hotter. He was standing tall, and his broad shoulders exuded strength. 

“Hey,” Bucky said, giving Steve a half smile before getting shy and looking down at his feet. 

“Hey, you made it,” Steve said, stepping to the side so Bucky could make his way in. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he replied, shrugging off his leather jacket, which he knew Becca would have been mad about. She was known to say that it was the only jacket he looked good in. “My sister was being annoying. Wouldn’t leave me alone.” She was legitimately horrible sometimes. 

Steve laughed a bit at that. “How old is she?”

“Twenty one,” he shook his head. “Still five to me though.” He began walking towards the living room. Everyone had arrived before him.

“Hey!” Sam exclaimed from his chair. “Bucky’s here!”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, waving sheepishly, looking around at the room for a seat. There weren’t any open ones, other than the one where Steve had obviously been sitting. 

He was about to potentially grab a chair from the large dining table, when Natasha moved her legs, which had previously been taking up the rest of the space on the couch she was lying on. “Come sit,” she said, smiling softly. She looked at him like he was this little dog, who needed protection, which honestly, he didn’t mind. Even though he was the one with the strangely powerful metal arm, everyone on this team was intimidating. 

“Thanks,” he said, walking around Steve’s coffee table to get there. Natasha handed him a beer, which he opened with his metal hand instead of a bottle opener. He loved doing that, it had been his party trick since he got the arm. 

Andersen began talking, Bucky presumed he was picking up the conversation where he left off, and he tried to relax. He rested his hand on his thigh in hopes to calm his fidgeting. The alcohol definitely helped, and he loosened up around the intimidating group. There were a few times where he felt Steve’s eyes on him, but he would worry about that later. He hoped they were of good intention. 

The pizza arrived, and the team ate, also getting into an argument about the birdman joke, which Sam didn’t find funny at all. Around ten, Andersen and Collins left, since apparently they had to get home to their families. Bucky didn’t know, but he assumed that other than Steve, they were the oldest team members. Rumlow left later, though no one seemed to mind. He was starting to believe Rumlow was pretty disliked. Bucky moved into one of the open chairs and Natasha stretched out on the couch again. 

“So Bucky,” Natasha started, leaning back over the armrest of the couch to face him. “How’s your sister’s search going?”

Bucky raised an eyebrow at her, leaning back and taking a swig. “What?”

“Her search for a boyfriend for you,” she clarified. “Anyone special yet?” Her tone insinuated the same thing as a wink. God, she was good. She knew she was embarrassing him, and that he had a thing for Steve, but no one else in the room did. It was just a bit of friendly manipulation, but he felt his body tensing up. 

Bucky chuckled a bit. He looked back at Steve’s face for less than a millisecond. He panicked after. Oh god, what if Steve had noticed? What if he knew Bucky’s intentions behind that look? He tried to calm himself down. “Nah, that search is forever doomed.” His phone buzzed. Becca had texted him, saying she was a few blocks away. He was puzzled for a second, before realizing they had ‘find my phone’ set up for each other.  _ The kid had tracked him.  _ “Oh, speak of the devil. She's here. I told her she could pick me up. She doesn’t trust drunk me on the subway.”

“I’ll, uh,” Steve stuttered for a moment, looking at Bucky weirdly. “I’ll walk you out.” 

Bucky smiled at him, just a bit confused at the look, and the two made their way back down the hall. “This was fun,” he said, grabbing his coat off the hook. “Thanks for having me over.”

“Thanks for coming,” Steve replied, smiling happily. When they looked at each other after Bucky pulled on his coat, Bucky thought he noticed Steve’s eyes shift down to his lips. He shifted his off of Steve’s eyes, but forced himself to look back, just in case he hadn’t been looking at Bucky’s lips. He didn’t want to imply anything. 

Bucky’s phone buzzed. Another text from Becca, telling him to hurry up. “Alright, she’s being impatient again. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked as he walked out the door, and waved goodbye as he made his way to the elevator. 

“Bye!” Steve called back. 

Bucky didn’t quite know how to respond, he was horrible at interaction, so he waved. Steve shut the door. Bucky tensed up, wondering if he had done something weird. He made his way out of the SHIELD building, arm tapping against his leg. He walked two blocks until he saw his sister’s car and climbed in. 

“So how was it?” she asked, voice full of fake innocence, sweetly smiling. 

“You tracked me!” he complained. 

“You wouldn’t tell me where you were,” she reasoned, pulling into the street. 

“Bitch,” he mumbled.

“Asshole,” she replied. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he gave in. He wasn’t about to give any details though. It wasn’t like anything happened, anyway. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was accidentally a story abt Bucky and his sister but oh well I thought it was fun.
> 
> I'll post the next one sooner than I posted this one I promise


	5. Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve sucks at putting up the mats when he's just staring at Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh! I'm so sorry that this is like a week later than I said. I had two exams this week so I was a bit busy, but I'm back and here's a chapter that I actually think it pretty good so here you go :)
> 
> (Oh also, side note, the first story has over 2000 hits now and I'm literally ecstatic about it, tysm)

When Steve knocked over the last dummy robot with his shield, the clock finally sounded. He had been having the team run timed drills all day, and he was pretty exhausted, even being the super soldier he was. The clock flipped back to showing the regular time and read a few minutes before the time they usually ended. He looked around the room, scanning his team members and the collapsed dummy robots, and decided that the feeling was probably mutual. “Okay, I think that’s a day!” he called out, heading towards the bench. His suit was sticking to him, and his hair was wet with sweat. He probably looked like an absolute train wreck. That was a con of working with Bucky. He saw Steve when he looked disgusting, but Bucky never seemed to budge from looking perfect. 

The rest of the team made their way to the benches and Steve followed. He tried to shake the sweat from his hair after grabbing a drink, and moved to the walls to re-clip the mats back up against the jagged walls. 

When he looked back, Bucky was sitting down on the bench, looking a lot more tired than usual. Steve hoped that was just due to the fact that they had all been hungover this morning, he didn’t want to think he was working his team too hard. “You doing alright?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Bucky sighed a bit and ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the floor. Christ, he looked so hot when he did that. Steve wanted to run his hands through Bucky’s long hair, he wouldn’t care if he was all sweaty from training. 

There was a crash, and Steve jumped back into reality, where he had been an idiot and dropped the mat back onto the floor. “Shit,” he said, voice coming out shakier than it should have. He looked skyward.  _ You just got scared when you dropped a mat like an idiot _ , his brain yelled at him.  _ Good job. _

“Need some help with that?” Bucky asked, like the sweet guy he was.

Steve laughed, knowing that if he tried to say no, he would end up saying yes because who could say no to Bucky? He bent down to pick up the mat again but Bucky got up and grabbed the other end when he began to pull it up. “Thanks,” Steve said after clipping it at the top, though he didn’t look at Bucky. He knew what it felt like when he was beginning to blush.

“What is up with you?” Bucky asked, when Steve moved on to the next mat. 

Steve bit the inside of his cheek. So he was being  _ noticeably _ weird now. “What do you mean?” He grabbed the clip of the next mat. 

Bucky walked with him. “You’re being weird.”

“No I’m not,” he replied, picking up the mat and fiddling with the handle and clipping it at the top. He was done for. Natasha consistently told him he was no good at lying. 

“You’re fidgeting,” Bucky pointed out, gesturing towards his hands.

Steve looked down at his hands. They were tapping against his sides. He was doing that thing again, copying Bucky. Natasha’s voice was finding its way back into his brain but he told it to shut up. “Yeah, and you’re one to talk,” Steve scoffed, obviously getting defensive. He began moving quicker along the wall.  _ That was mean _ , he told himself. Shit, why was he such an asshole?

“Exactly,” Bucky replied, taking it with stride. “I’m weird. You’re acting like me.” 

“Am not,” he argued.

“Are too.”

“ _ Am not _ . And I’m your CO, I’m ordering you to shut it.” Steve couldn’t help but internally laugh at himself.  _ Since when did he start using that as a way to win arguments? _ He must be getting worse. Maybe it was just Bucky that threw him off. 

“Wow,” Bucky grinned. He was adorable when he smiled like that. Steve tried his best not to let that show on his face. God, he wanted to kiss Bucky. He wanted to so much. “You wanna hear what I’ve discovered? Captain America is a big baby.”

Steve scowled at the statement, but looking at Bucky, he couldn’t bring himself to frown. He pursed his lips to keep them from doing anything stupid, and turned away. 

“What was that?” Bucky asked. Steve didn’t look back so he didn’t have an opportunity to read his expression.

“What was what?” he asked, denying anything weird.

“Come on, look at me.”

“Bucky-,” he managed to get out, before Bucky shoved him on the shoulder with his strong metal arm, forcing him to turn at face him. He couldn’t look Bucky in the eyes so he tried to settle on something else. Unfortunately, his dick for a brain decided on Bucky’s lips, and once he looked, he didn’t really want to look away.

But when Bucky’s mouth fell open just a bit, probably in realization, a realization that Steve did not want him to come to, he began to freak out. “Shit.” His voice was quieter than he meant for it to be. “I’m sorry, I just-” he began reasoning, stuttering badly.

“Shut up,” Bucky said, reaching around Steve’s head. The next thing he knew, his forehead was pressed against Bucky’s. _ Holy shit. _ He was definitely not prepared for that to be the outcome. He saw Bucky’s eyes flicker down to his lips, and Steve realized that Bucky was giving him a second to back out. He made sure not to give a single signal that would insinuate he might not want this.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around Bucky’s waist and pushed his head forward to initiate the kiss. Bucky’s lips were soft and giving. They made him drunk for the first time in seventy years. He felt light headed, dizzy, like he might just simply pass out from happiness. 

“Fuck,” Steve groaned, pulling away. “You’re just…” he trailed off, eyes on Bucky’s, which he swore were blurry, despite the fact he knew he would always have perfect vision. 

“I’m just what?” Bucky asked innocently, giving Steve a little smirk that he just wanted to suck off his face. 

Instead, Steve smiled at him. “I dunno.”

“If you don’t know, I suggest you kiss me again and figure it out.”

Seeing as he had no issue with that suggestion, Steve leaned in again, this time being more forceful about it. He ran his tongue across Bucky’s lips and pushed forward a bit until Bucky’s back hit the wall. He felt Bucky moan into his mouth. That sound could drive a healthy man insane. 

“Buck,” he moaned quietly against Bucky’s open mouth. He ran a hand across the base of Bucky’s neck and into his hair, making sure he got to do what he wanted before they would definitely either be interrupted or have to move. His hair was soft like a cashmere blanket, or one of those solid grey cats that Steve really wanted. He swore they were the best ones. He shoved his mouth back onto Bucky’s. When he tugged back on Bucky’s hair, he heard a small whine escape his mouth. The things this man would make him want to do.

Steve left his mouth and moved on to kissing the side of Bucky’s jaw, freeing his voice. “Steve,” he moaned out. “Fuck,  _ Steve _ .” Steve continued sucking on the side of his neck. 

There was a pronounced sound of someone clearing their throat, and Steve felt Bucky’s head shoot forwards. He knew that sound, the person who cleared their throat like that when she wanted his attention in a strange situation. He could imagine the smirk on her face right now. She had  _ so _ been waiting for this. Bucky had burrowed his face into Steve’s shoulder, which Steve might have found absolutely adorable had he not just been caught red handed. Steve stayed staring at the wall, in an attempt to look strong, and have some control of the situation, but out of reflex he leaned a bit to the side, resting his head on top of Bucky’s. He hoped it was sort of comforting. 

“Hi, Tasha,” Steve managed to get out, talking into the wall. 

“As much as I love this,” she almost purred gleefully, sounding smug, “if he gets promoted first, I’m calling it nepotism.”

“Shut up,” Steve groaned. He could feel Bucky stifling a laugh into his shoulder. “And you know I have no authority over you. What do you want?”

“I really hate to cockblock you guys…”

“Tasha,” he groaned again. He hadn’t released Bucky’s sides, hoping there was a way they could save the moment.  _ Were they having a moment? _

“We just got a call from Stark. We gotta go ASAP.” He could hear her begin walking away. “Whole team,” she tacked on at the end. “That includes you, Barnes.” 

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Steve sighed after a second, dropping his head a bit.

Bucky lifted his head when the elevator doors shut. “Ugh,” he groaned, but he was also laughing. “Can we just send them without us? Say it’s some sort of team building experience, working without their leader.”

Steve chuckled. “Unfortunately not.” He kissed Bucky’s forehead, and then brushed them over his ear. “We’re continuing this when we get back though.”

“Oh, definitely. You’re finishing what you started.”

“Wait, didn’t you kiss me?”

“Whatever,” Bucky rolled his eyes.

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed.”

\------------------------

After instructing Rumlow and Collins to tug away the guy they had been called to come take care of, Steve quickly surveyed the area. Most of the team was just standing around, and a few were getting the quinjet ready to take them back to SHIELD. Bucky was leaning against the wall of a building, but before Steve could get over there, he felt a light punch on his shoulder. He turned to see Natasha, who looked just as polished as she had before the fight. 

“Hey player,” she said, smiling. It wasn’t a smirk, she wasn’t being smug. She looked genuinely happy. 

“Hey Tasha,” he replied, feeling a strange amount of butterflies in his stomach.

“So, is there a story I should be hearing?”

“Nope.”

“Who made the first move?”

“Tasha,” he warned. It wasn’t that he had a problem sharing anything with her, but he didn’t know how open a person Bucky was. This wasn’t just his stupid feelings anymore. 

“Fine,” she gave up. “You might want to save your boyfriend over there from Stark though.”

Steve turned over his shoulder to wear Bucky had been standing and saw him talking with Tony, who was standing just a few feet over.  “Oh crap,” he muttered, beginning to make his way over. “What are you doing, Tony?” he asked when he got close enough. Bucky smirked at him. He looked hot when he did that. Hell, he always looked hot. It wasn’t expression specific. 

“Oh, nothing,” Tony smirked. “Have fun, Cap.” He began to walk away.

Steve raised an eyebrow as Tony walked away, but quickly turned his attention to Bucky. “Hey,” he leaned against the wall, pulling on his hip and turning him to face him. 

“Hi,” Bucky replied, inching a little closer. 

“So the mission’s over,” Steve stated.

“Yeah,” he affirmed.

“Anyone expecting you back at your place tonight?” he asked. It was bold, but he always felt more confident after smashing through a few windows. 

“Steven Rogers!” Bucky whisper-gasped, hand flying to his face in mock shock. “Are you asking me to stay over before we’ve even been on a date?”

“Shut up,” he smiled, leaning forward and tilting Bucky’s head up, kissing him softly. “Plus, are you gonna seriously tell me that’s not where this was going before Natasha came down?”

“Are you calling me easy?” he teased.

Steve huffed a bit, but it was light hearted. 

“I’m kidding,” Bucky let up. “No one’s expecting me back.”

Steve’s hand crept around his back and rested on his hip, fingers making their way under his shirt. “Perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, the end of this series and this universe. If you haven't read "Welcome, Agent Barnes", you should go do that now. Thanks for all the engagement with this series y'all, love you all.

**Author's Note:**

> Go check out "Welcome, Agent Barnes" if you haven't! I've put them both in one series so that you can just flip between them.


End file.
